l8 THE BUILDING OI<~ AN ISLAND. 



t 



Conclusions lrOxM the Foreooini; Ouservations. 



Pausing now to sum up the results of our observations thus far, we see 

 that in the quarries and road-cuttings on the hillsides, as well as in the clifTs of 

 the seashore, the peeps which we get at what is beneath our feet in the district 

 studied, show that the whole great mass of the land has been built up, laver 

 after layer, in the sea-bottom by the gradual additions, we might almost say 

 grain by grain, which countless living creatures, both animal and \egetable, 

 have made to it tlirough long ages. If we could remove the verdure and the 

 soil from the landscape, we should see all the hills and the valleys, showing 

 the creamy white colour and the arrangement in iavers, of which we have only 

 been able to get glimpses here and there, and we should see plainlv that tlie 

 whole had one common origin. This building up of our limestone formation 

 beneath the sea and from materials extracted from the sea-water is, then, the 

 first great fact that we have learned. 



Another great fact presents itself, and it is an obvious one ; either the 

 level of the sea has been lowered or the whole mass of this accumulated 

 material has been lifted considerablv since it was deposited in the ocean. As 

 we shall see later, there is good evidence for the lifting, and it has been so 

 considerable that some parts of the formation are now 400 to 500 feet above 

 the sea level, and at one point, near Bulow's Minde, the height is over 600 

 feet. Such elevations must have been reached by a great movement, or series 

 of movements, implying the action of great forces ; and we must also remember 

 that the base of older rocks, on which all these limestones and marls rest, 

 must have likewise been pushed up. This base we have so far scarcely thought 

 of, but we have regarded it as if it were merelv a solid block on which the 

 younger formation rests, and at present it will suit us to continue to think of 

 it in this wav, so as to confine our attention to the younger rocks. Still we 

 must not forget that any great movement, of which we find evidence in the 

 upper rocks, must have been shared by the lower rocks; if we see that the 

 limestone formation has been upheaved, then the blue-beach formation, on 

 which it rests, must have been upheaved along with it. 



Slope of the Beds. 



Studying the great upheaval of whicli we have seen such plain evidence, 

 we perceive at once that the strata, although laid down, no doubt, horizontally 

 in the sea, or nearly so, have not kept that position during the upward move- 

 ment, for we have noticed at the places on the eastern edge of the Central 

 Slope, where we have examined the rocks, that the layers slope away, or dip 

 as the geologists say, to the southwest, and this will be found to be the case 

 along the entire eastern edge of the Slope; at Bulow's Minde, Constitution 

 Hill, Anna's Hope, Work and Rest, Granard and Cane Garden the slope is 

 to the southwest or thereabouts. The amount of the slope is not insignificant 

 either, but varies from 5 or 6 up to about 15 degrees. 



